The present invention is directed to a dual outside mirror assembly adapted to be mounted on a vehicle door having a window.
While not limited to this specific application, the dual mirror assembly of the present invention is especially well adapted for use on van type vehicles, pick-up trucks carrying a camper, and other vehicles where rearward visibility from the drivers seat is restricted. Dual outside mirror assemblies enables the drivers of such vehicles to have a field of view which is substantially extended in the vertical direction over that provided by a single mirror, a substantial advantage when the vehicle must be backed into areas of restricted clearance. Two plane mirrors may be adjusted into two different vertical planes to provide overlapping fields of view or a plane mirror may be used in combination with a convex mirror to combine the expanded field of view of the convex mirror with the undistorted view of the plane mirror.
To minimize problems of side clearance, dual mirrors are conventionally mounted one above the other on a vertically extending frame member supported in outwardly spaced relationship to the side of the vehicle. In nearly all vehicles, the only practical location for mounting the mirror support frame is on the vehicle door so that the mirrors will be visible to the driver through the front door windows. This requires the mirror mounting frame to be attached to the door at locations above and below the door window. In the prior art this is typically accomplished by the use of flat plate-like brackets bolted to the door and fixedly attached, in some manner, to the outwardly extending frame at the top and bottom of the mirror support frame.
In most vehicles, that portion of the door which extends across the top of the window is relatively narrow, thus restricting the vertical dimension of the mounting plate employed at this location which in turn presents problems in establishing a rigid connection between this plate and the upper end of the mirror support frame. The door on which the mirror mount is mounted is not always closed gently and this, combined with bumps and vibrations encountered during normal operation of the vehicle places substantial stresses on the point of connection between the mirror mounting frame at its point of connection to the mounting plates which attach the frame to the vehicle door.
A second problem encountered by dual mirror mounting frames is the fact that in nearly all present day vehicles the outer side surface of the door does not lie in a true vertical plane, but is instead curved upwardly and inwardly toward the top of the vehicle. Thus, the top of the door normally is horizontally displaced inwardly of the vehicle from that portion of the door below the window, and this horizontal displacement differs from vehicle to vehicle. A mirror frame designed to support the dual mirrors for adjustment about horizontal and vertical axes when mounted on one vehicle may have its frame tilted when mounted on a different vehicle to the point where the mirror adjustment axes are displaced from the horizontal and vertical to the point where adjustment of the mirror is difficult.
The present invention is specifically directed to a dual mirror assembly which solves the foregoing problems.